Barefoot in the Bindis

A circle of pine trees, a sagging wire fence, and a roof that was once painted red.

'There it is,' said Dad.



In 1953, after doctors prescribed fresh country air for his health, Scottish-born Robert Wales uprooted his young family from the city life of Sydney and set out to establish a sheep farm in the bush. What he lacked in experience and expertise, he made up for in enthusiasm. Or so he hoped.



When the family arrived on a lonely hill in northern New South Wales, they had no electricity, no running water, no telephone and no choice but to make that tangle of bush their home. From Angela Wales, eldest of the five kids, comes this extraordinarily vivid and evocative account of the next ten years as they tried to tame six thousand acres and navigate the challenges of country life.



Filled with drama and hilarity, joy and back-breaking toil, BAREFOOT IN THE BINDIS portrays a childhood spent in the bush, and is a sensational picture of Australia past.

“Endlessly vivid and enjoyable, full of stories and characters that will tug at both your imagination and memory. - Richard GloverRich, nourishing, totally engrossing and very moving. - Margaret Pomeranz”

Endlessly vivid and enjoyable, full of stories and characters that will tug at both your imagination and memory. - Richard Glover

Angela Wales grew up the oldest of five children in Walcha NSW. After the family's move to Sydney she attended the University of Sydney, graduating in English and classics. She was executive director of the Australian Writers Guild for 10 years, after which she moved to the US and became Executive Director of the Writers Guild Foundation (the educational and charitable arm of the Writers Guild of America West) in Los Angeles. She returned to Australia in late 2013 to help take care of her elderly mother. Barefoot in the Bindis is her first book.

A circle of pine trees, a sagging wire fence, and a roof that was once painted red. 'There it is,' said Dad. In 1953, after doctors prescribed fresh country air for his health, Scottish-born Robert Wales uprooted his young family from the city life of Sydney and set out to establish a sheep farm in the bush. What he lacked in experience and expertise, he made up for in enthusiasm. Or so he hoped.When the family arrived on a lonely hill in northern New South Wales, they had no electricity, no running water, no telephone and no choice but to make that tangle of bush their home. From Angela Wales, eldest of the five kids, comes this extraordinarily vivid and evocative account of the next ten years as they tried to tame six thousand acres and navigate the challenges of country life.Filled with drama and hilarity, joy and back-breaking toil, BAREFOOT IN THE BINDIS portrays a childhood spent in the bush, and is a sensational picture of Australia past.

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